Ivy: Rear Wheel Swap

Wanted to swap Ivy's rear wheel for the temporary one so I could put new spokes on it and true it.  Swapping the wheel's went without a hitch.  Took the tire, rim strip and tube from Ivy's and put it on the temp one (the one I've been practicing truing).  It actually fits a bit better, I think because the cushions aren't so thick.  May want to swap them out next time.  The new spokes look fantastic on the bike - you don't notice what a big difference they make until you compare them to the old ones.

Surprisingly, all the spokes came out without a problem, no cutting required.  Even many of the holes were already big enough to take the new spokes, though I still had to Dremel a few of them.  Only when I had it back upstairs and was lacing it did I realize I had drilled the wrong holes and had to redo it.

Almost pulled the bearings but then decided I had nothing to gain by pulling them now.  I'll just wait until I have new Nachi's to install.

Also found that there was a bad spoke in the new set (second set from the same eBay seller).  Not only did I get 19 inners and only 17 outers, the extra inner had its threads on the wrong end!  Makes me worry about ordering more sets from this guy, but then again, the first set was fine (except for the inconsistently sized nipples).  I had to use an old spoke from Viola's original to finish the lacing while I wait for the seller to send a replacement.  (the spokes I just took off from that wheel were actually a lot longer than 175mm)

Once I got to truing I got a bit worried.  From the start, this rim had a huge runout of about 7mm.  I thought it would be impossible to get that straight just from adjusting spokes.  The hop was pretty big at about 3-4mm.

With such large movement, the problem became that the dial gauge didn't have a smooth "track" to run on.  When checking hop, the side to side movement was so bad that it would move off the gauge.  And when checking runout, the hop made it so that the gauge was moving all the way out to the edge of the rim.

But I just stuck with it, and didn't actually do anything special, just followed the procedure.  I actually took care of some of the big runout first, enough to be able to then get the gauge on track for the hop.  Even though you're supposed to start with hop first, maybe you just need to start with whichever is worse.

Took some time, but amazingly, I was able to get the runout down to 0.5mm and the hop to an acceptable 1mm (same as the other wheel).  Pleasantly surprised and somewhat impressed with myself!

Spare Wheel: Truing Stand, Part 4

Putting even more time into truing practice, I've got the spare wheel down to a 0.4mm runout and a 1mm hop.

Did one more trip to Ace to get some magnets to make a tool holder and some magnetic pushpins to use for marking the rim at specific points.  Used some spare metal strips to make metal runners for the magnetic base to attach to.

Also got a 5mm Motion Pro Ergo spoke wrench, which was a great piece of kit, but which then revealed that the aftermarket nipples I'm using aren't consistently 5mm!  Some are slightly bigger meaning I have to switch back to the other wrench.

But all in all, absolutely loving the entire "workstation".

Features:

• Solid base to hold the swing arm including cork lined uprights with C-clamps (Nicko's idea!)
• Metal runners for attaching the dial gauge's magnetic base.
• Double tool holder magnets for the 2 spoke wrenches.
• Paper clip pointers showing both hop and runout simultaneously.
• Can be disassembled for long-term storage.
• Perhaps most importantly, it makes use of the previously wasted "wide" swing arm!

Spare Wheel: Truing Stand, Part 3

After practicing truing for a couple days just using the pointer method, I decided I wanted to step up to a dial gauge.  Found a nice metric one ($10) and also bought a magnetic stand ($20).

I went from a 2mm runout/hop down to 1mm using the gauge.

Spare Wheel: DIY Truing Stand, Part 2

One $50 trip to Ace and I got everything to make the stand.  Spent quite awhile at the store, though, thinking through different approaches to make the base.  Lucked out in finding some hinges that would hold the 3/8 x 10" thru-bolt perfectly and could then be bolted down to the base.

Ace selling the plywood board was key, too.  Also finally put the new $20 cordless drill to good use.

Honestly can't believe it worked out so well...

Spare Wheel: DIY Truing Stand, Part 1

First step to building the truing stand is to see if I can get the wheel nice and tight on the axle using the spacers I have.  By adding in a few 12mm washers, I got the rear wheel locked in perfectly.

Ended up using the stock "H" spacer on the right.  On the left used the axle sleeve + 3 washers + stock block washer.

Did a little truing just by holding the swingarm up with one hand.  Next step, build a platform to hold the swingarm up!

Spares: First Time Wheel Lacing

First time wheel lacing.  No surprise that it didn't all go to plan, I guess.

The first big gotcha was that the 90-degree outer spokes wouldn't pass through the holes in the hub.  When I measured the diameter they were 3mm and the old ones were literally a fraction smaller.  I'd need the digital caliper to really measure the difference.  But they were just thick enough not to fit.

The only option then (if I want to use them), would be to widen the holes a bit...?  Hate to muck with a perfectly good hub, though.

The cross-2 pattern was straightforward enough and I used old spokes to do all the outers on one side.  Got stymied a bit when it then felt like the hub was pulled too far off center to then do the other side.  But then realized I had to push down on the hub a bit when getting the first few in on the opposite side.  After that the rest went in a lot easier.

Figured out the little trick to doing the inner spokes and had the whole thing done pretty easily.

So here's my procedure:

1. Install all the outer spokes on one side and fasten with nipples (not too tight).
2. Flip and do all the outer spokes on the other side with nipples.
3. Now install all the inner spokes on both sides without nipples.  Make sure they lie correctly and don't interfere with each other.  They should lie against the hub and out of the way.
4. Finally, add nipples to all the inner spokes.

And the spoke situation.

• Old spokes
• Outer - have 14 of these left
• Inner - have all 18 of these
• Honda NOS spokes
• Have 10 of these but no nipples that fit
• Aftermarket spokes
• Outer - won't fit the new hub
• Inner - work fine

Spare Wheel: Spokes Out

Took out all the spokes from the spare today.  Had to Dremel cut the 4 frozen ones.

One strange thing I discovered yesterday was that even though the NOS Honda spokes were the correct length for a cross-2 lacing, the nipples I have don't fit the threads (nipples are too big).

But I just ordered the full 36-spoke set including nipples anyway, so sort of moot.